Issues related to international arrangements - Investor-State disputes and policy implications
2 February 2005
Note by the UNCTAD secretariat
Executive Summary
International investment disputes arising from investment agreements are on the increase. The cumulative number of treaty-based cases brought before the World Bank Group´s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes and other arbitration tribunals rose from five at year-end 1994 to at least 160 in November 2004, with over half (92) of the known claims filed within the past three years. Over 50 States were brought before an international tribunal, 31 of which were developing countries, 11 developed countries and 8 transitional economies. The cases cover a wide range of economic activities and various types of foreign involvement, and relate to key provisions in investment agreements. These developments raise a number of systemic and substantive issues and have serious development implications. This note sets out a number of them.
The document can be downloaded at http://www.unctad.org/en/docs/c2d62_en.pdf
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